Sunday night December 15th 2013 David Raccah and myself attended a special tasting at Scala in Jerusalem, the David Citadel Hotel's gourmet venue. There we met with Nicolas Daniel Ranson and Christophe Bardeau, respectively the co-owner and co-owner+winemaker of Domaine Roses Camille in Pomerol, Bordeaux. We tasted all the kosher wines ever made and released (or about to be) by Bardeau. I had already tasted in the past 3 out of 4 of the wines except the legendary 2005 Roses Camille which was scored 95 by Rogov z.l. and declared as "perhaps the best ever kosher wine out of Bordeaux". It was an extraordinary tasting not only because of the outstanding quality of the wines but even more so for the privilege of meeting and chatting with Bardeau who impressed me immensely by his extraordinary knowledge, dynamism and creativity.

Additionally, Bardeau also made a fully kosher vintage in 2011 at a Saint-Emilion estate, Moulin du Château la Clide. I first tasted it as a barrel sample last May in San Diego but tasting, drinking and enjoying it over 4-5+ hours with a good meal was quite a treat.

Having already posted recently my notes here on the 2006 Roses Camille and 2011 Echo de Roses Camille and having nothing to neither add nor change in my notes regarding those wines for now, following are my tasting notes for the 2005 Roses Camille and 2011 Moulin du Château La Clide:

Château La Clide, Moulin du Château la Clide, Saint-Emilion 2011: A blend of 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot, aged for 18 months in french oak barrels. Dark cherry red with purple reflections, with on the nose green pepper, red cherries and cranberries, fresh peppermint, cloves and hints of morels. Medium to full-bodied with on the palate tart red fruits, garrigue, minerals, fresh tobacco and smoky notes of toasted oak, and with searing tannins wrapping the mouth along with tongue cutting acidity on a moderately long finish that keeps extending as the wine develops in the glass with air. 13.5% Abv. Extremely young but so well-balanced and structured, showing already great harmony and potential for elegance.

Domaine Roses Camille, Pomerol 2005: This wine is most certainly the best kosher Merlot in the world. Period. Super dark garnet, even darker than the 2006 with on the nose lots of red fruit with as well some blackberries and dark plums, lots of great barnyard funk along with wet forest floor, black truffles and tobacco as well as notes of eucalyptus. Full-bodied and concentrated but in a restrained classy way as opposed to a sledgehammer Israeli or Californian blockbuster with juicy red and black fruit on first attack that including raspberries, blackberries, red currants and plums with on the mid palate the truffle, loamy dirt, eucalyptus and peppermint shining through with bracing acidity along notes of tobacco and coffee with mouth-watering backer's chocolate and a stunning designer dress of tannins gently drying the mouth on the long and luscious finish. This is a super sexy and feminine wine, it is not going anywhere for a very long time and it's all about character, presence, elegance and finesse. An extraordinary wine with a unique mouth-feel, I consider myself very much privileged and grateful for having had the luck to taste it. 13.5% Abv.

Chaim Shraga, these guys wouldn't know Romanee Conti if they stepped on it, having never interacted with it face to face. But let's face it, how many of us really know Romanee Conti? Certainly not me. Tasted it a few times, but knowing requires familiarity. But they do know Domaine Roses Camille. So let's not be acrimonious about their acronym. After all, acronyms are simply a shorthand for people who should be familiar with its meaning. To the kosher market, DRC is a Bordeaux, not a Burgundy.

Craig Winchell wrote:Chaim Shraga, these guys wouldn't know Romanee Conti if they stepped on it, having never interacted with it face to face. But let's face it, how many of us really know Romanee Conti? Certainly not me. Tasted it a few times, but knowing requires familiarity. But they do know Domaine Roses Camille. So let's not be acrimonious about their acronym. After all, acronyms are simply a shorthand for people who should be familiar with its meaning. To the kosher market, DRC is a Bordeaux, not a Burgundy.

Well Craig, while unfortunately I have not (yet) had the luck to taste the real DRC, Domaine de la Romanée Conti, I have handled quite a few cases and bottles of the 1998 and 1999 vintages. Long-time members of this forum should know by now that the acronym DRC refers, for those of us who are exclusive to kosher wine, to Domaine Roses Camille as it first started as some sort of a joke and established itself as the kosher DRC, indeed an outstanding Pomerol Bordeaux as opposed to a legendary Côte d'Or Burgundy. So, get over it.

As I described on my blog post. The 2005 DRC is very hard to find. The 2006 DRC is lovely and easily found, but not cheap. The 2011 Echo and Clide are not yet released, but the Echo will soon be available, and will be at all major kosher wine shops in NY, like Skyview and Gotham, and...

Just to chime in on this chipper thread, acronyms and football references aside, 2005 is only available through LiquidKosher.com and the 2006s are typically available around the country. As mentioned above, the 2011s are slowly making their way to market and the 2012s are resting happily in barrel.

Andrew B wrote:Just to chime in on this chipper thread, acronyms and football references aside, 2005 is only available through LiquidKosher.com and the 2006s are typically available around the country. As mentioned above, the 2011s are slowly making their way to market and the 2012s are resting happily in barrel.

I don't know, Pinchas, but I think it's ok as long as it isn't done too much. "Too much", I suppose, is in the eye of the beholder, but a little bit of hawking, as long as the wine is good, is to me a community service, bringing attention of others to a wine that is good and perhaps even different. Telling where one can get a rarer premium +, or luxury wine, is simply informative, even if the person calling attention to it stand to gain. I would hate to have wine sales take over the board, but I feel it's controlled at this point.